To perform endotracheal intubation in anesthesia, emergency medicine and intensive care and to perform surgery of the larynx, an unobstructed access to the larynx, the vocal cords and, ultimately, the trachea is needed for the intubation or the surgical procedures. In these cases, a laryngoscope is used to push the tongue forward or in the rostral direction. A laryngoscope generally comprises a blade of greater or lesser curvature, at the proximal end of which blade a handle is arranged approximately at a right angle.
To facilitate adaptation to the anatomy of the patient, the blade is generally exchangeable. An intubation kit includes a large number of blades of different length and different curvature. Moreover, different designs of blade are available for different uses and/or to meet different preferences of the medical personnel, for example blades after Macintosh, Miller, Dörges and McCoy, the latter with a movable distal end.
A laryngoscope with a deformable distal end is also described in WO 97/30626. The blade 4 of the laryngoscope has several slits 40 in a central portion 14. The slits 40 divide the central portion 14 into segments 42, which are connected to each other only by narrow webs that act as flexure bearings.
EP 1 040 999 A2 describes a component for taking up forces, in which struts 11, 11a connect opposite regions of an outer skin 12, 12a to each other.
EP 2 241 403 A1 describes a manipulator tool with two flexible cheeks 8, 10. At the distal end 6 of the manipulator tool 1, the cheeks 8, 10 are connected to each other directly and also by several hinge elements 20.
DE 10 2007 026 721 A1 describes a medical gripping tool for holding body parts. The medical gripping tool 1 comprises several branches 1, each with two opposite cheeks between which connecting elements extend.
In WO 2016/074894 A2, an intubation laryngoscope comprising a handle 1 and a curved intubation blade 2 is described. The intubation blade 2 comprises a flexible blade body having two blade half-shells 2a, 2b and a blade tongue 6. The distal end of the blade tongue 6 is fixed to the blade tip 3. The blade half-shells 2a, 2b have guiding brackets rectangularly bent towards each other and forming a guide 11. Guiding slides 13 at the blade tongue 6 engage into the guide 11.
In US 2013/0310650 A1, a laryngoscope 1 with a blade 5 is described. A sheath 9, 80, 100 for the blade 5 can be attached to the laryngoscope 1.
It is an object of the present invention to make available an improved adaptive blade for a laryngoscope and to make available an improved adaptive laryngoscope.